Washing Machine, Petathon and Violins

Now, let me nag about what happened last night after I posted and shut down the computer. Suddenly, loud banging noises could be heard in the "yard" (this open air area for hanging clothes etc, between the kitchen and storage with a spare tiny toilet attached to it. altogether, there are 4 toilets in my house. One there, my paarents bedroom, jean's and my bedroom) where we keep the washing machine and dryer. Then a while later, we heard a loud bang and the washing machine died. We went over to investigate. The drum inside was detached. My father declared it beyond repair.

The next day, which is today, I went out early for the petathon thing. I was supposed to walk with Evangeline but I didn't sit with her at the cordoned off area because no other person without a pet was there. Then, after the usual intro speeches, they asked the cordoned off people and animals to go for their petathon. I made a last minute decision not to accompany Evangeline because no one else was walking from our rows of classes. The people would probably think I'm trying to be funny or objecting to the pet walk. So I watched the performance in the hall and then nearly bored myself to death for the next 2 hours.

My dad came to pick me up after the event. We went to ang mo kio central to buy back lunch and look at washing machines at Courts. They eventually bought one later today. In the mean time, we send our clothes to our grandparent's house to wash, then bring it back home to dry. Jean was at school since 12pm. She's coming back at 11pm. Involved in her school's LoveMG concert. Playing drums again. So I went to church later and came back at around 9.30pm.

A funny sound was detected from Jean's violin yesterday during violin lesson. My parents took it down to synwin to get it checked. They took out the strings, pegs, tuners, chin rest etc one by one and tried to find the problem. However, they could not find the root of the extra sound. So they concluded that either it was a splinter inside the violin, or the suspension had a problem (i didn't even know violins have suspensions). So the poor violin was hospitalised. In return, they leant her a new $2000 violin. That's like almost twice her injured violin's value. And the quality is 8001. The highest level for quality is 9001. The injured one is around 6001. I think mine is around 4001 and almost quarter that value. So depressing. She gets to use that violin for the exam. I don't know if it's going to give her an advantage, but then again, it's the technical skill that matters (hopefully). Synwin is so nice. But I don't think I would want to switch even to a better violin at this point in time. I might not get used to it and the pieces, especially czardas, will go haywire.

Just now, I took out the old and tiny violins out from the storage. My half size one looks like a toy. But the strings are still there. Not snapped and just slightly out of tune. However, the zip thing came out, the metal part. So I only have one zip left to zip up the whole case. I wonder how my teacher played it to demonstrate while teaching me. Her fingers must have been squashed next to each other. Then Jean's 3/8 sized one. That one is the smallest in our collection. The medium sized 3/4 giant and of course, not forgetting the current gigantic full sized giants. Is there size 1.5 or 2 for those with really long arms? I think I want an electric violin next time. Should be quite fun.

Jie ying, can you go update your blog? I've already posted something 2 days in a row which is already considered an achievement.

School then Violin Lesson

Today is Friday, the most relaxing day in school out of the 5 day study week. I can hardly remember what happened at school, so I shall just go on to rattle about what happened after school.

School ended at 1.30pm. I stayed back in class to complete my Accident & Emergency math homework. Everyone who knows my knows lazy character will know that I usually either finish my work in school or copy down the questions on a peice of paper. The hidden motive is obvious: I don't want to carry the especially heavy books home. So troublesome and the questions don't even make up a hundreth of the book. Not worth the effort.

At around 2pm, I went down to the canteen to get a drink and wait for my mother to pick me up for violin lesson. My violin teacher lives at Bedok. The aural + piano accompanist lives at Kambangan (also in the east. Does anyone know who is yao xiao yun?). But sometimes, I have to go down to NAFA instead. After picking me up, we go to MGS to wait for my sister. Then we reach our violin teacher's house about 40mins later.

My scales (in general, which includes all 153 types) were pretty good. But somehow, my 3-octave ones were better than the 2-octave ones which are supposed to be easier. Got to work harder on those. Czardas just needed to be a little more polished at the ending. Legende was good because my intonation at the double stops improved greatly. Gavotte en Rondeau was slightly rushed and not expressive enough. But notes wise, it was alright. Sight reading was ok, but Ms Kwok said it could be better. But overall, she thinks I /should/ be fine and well prepared for the exam already. I think I do trust that. She says that every exam and it turned out good. I thought I would fail grade 7 but instead, I think it went well past my expectations. I'm aiming for distinction this time. 2 marks away the last time, i nearly banged my head against the wall. And I also want to beat Jean. She's beaten me for 3 consectutive years, but the gap has been narrowing steadily.

After violin lesson, we dropped Jean off at school. She has to perform at some LoveMG concert. Playing drums. I think their band is some guest artist or what at the primary school side. Then they have to play again tomorrow, tomorrow's tomorrow, and sometime again next week i think. What a hectic life. It's for ex-MG people. I wonder if Ms Tan is going back.

My mother and I met up with my father at Junction 8. He takes the bus and mrt to work everyday (monday-friday). My mom gets the car unless he has meeings somewhere else. Someday, I want to be an engineer and work in Singtel too. We went for dinner at junction 8. The thing I ate had so many onions. 2 large spoonfuls. I passed them over to my parents. I don't like the taste of onions, garlic, mushrooms, ginger, clam, squid, oyster etc. Anything rubbery or disgusting.

My father dropped my mom and I home and he went to church for an elders meeting. They usually meet till 11+. But thankfully, not regularly. So now my house has half the population gone. It is peaceful and quiet except for my mom's occasional singing. And I get to use the computer without any objections.

(Jie ying: go update your blog. I've updated mine so your blog cant be worse than mine.)

Violin, violin, violin... sigh...

I'm going to take down the Vietnam pictures once the June holidays are over. After that, this blog will be dead and quiet. Of course unless I have an urge to post something. But do take note that these "urges" only come once or twice a year. So maybe, I should type now, "See you in 2009!"

Violin exam (aka dooms day) is on Friday, 18 July 2008. 15 46 at Verve Music School at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6. Relatively near my house. Fine, very. Compared to previous years, my exam as always been in places like Paragon at Orchard Rd (Grade 7), some music school in Katong (Grade 5), and a music school in Takashimaya (Grade 3). So since this exam is in Ang Mo Kio, I would consider it as just at my doorstep. I plan to skip school or part of school (depending on tests on that day etc.) to warm up in the morning. Then have lunch, then laze around or practice again and then go for the exam. My piano accompanist is the same as the one I had for Grade 7. She also teaches me aural before exams. But I'm so happy, this is the last time I will have to suffer aural tests. Yay!

There is so much to practice, now, 1 hour is not enough. I've been doing 1.5-2hrs of practice daily for the past few week. This is bad. Scales take up 45mins. I have 150+ scales to practice, and that's only doing them once, but correcting mistakes too. I don't do studies now because I need to focus more on exam material. But I do them for roughly 10mins to practice sight reading. After that, exam pieces take 45mins. I try to limit my self to 10mins per piece, but it's not enough. Legende takes 7mins to play through once. Then I have to juggle music practical test for term 3, I'm playing Legende and Spring. (Argh, and Jie Ying, we need to coordinate soon!) On top of all that, I have to play the double concerto with jie ying for the string concert. Ah, but at least I played that 4 years ago. I can autopilot some of the fingering. Then I have to polish czardas further after the exam for the string concert. Then there's ensemble peices to practice for the concert (means alot of pieces). Argh. I might as well just spend my whole afternoon practicing like a mad person. Not that I can concentrate for so long either. (I know I haven't put a time estimate for the later sections because they're not really on my top priority list for the moment.)

(section to Jie Ying. When do we ask ms tan to help us coordinate? And we have to spend time on double concerto. Sigh. I think I'll have to give up pure humans free period for czardas and double concerto. Oh, you too. Sorry for ditching you next week, but please don't be stressed leading sectionals and try to look forward to it. Honestly, I do look forward to every practice session. I don't know why, but i do.)

Vietnam Pictures

Here is the link to view the pictures taken during my Vietnam trip. Mostly taken by my father, but if you see pictures of my parents only, then it could be either Jean or me. I took out all the pictures of any one in swimming costumes at the beach. For private viewing only.

The link: http://www.4shared.com/dir/7534486/6706efd8/Hoi_An_Vietnam_2008.html

I'll decide at a later date whether I want to keep this blog active.

(section for Jie Ying:
Link to la paloma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBEetj2YVV0&feature=related

That's all for now)

Vietnam/Singapore - Day 5

Today, I woke up on my own again. Not because of a dream, knocking or a phone call, but because I opend the curtains slightly. I woke up at 6am Singapore time because the sun had already risen. Then, I went back to sleep and woke up again for good an hour later. After doing some packing, we went for breakfast. Along the way, we saw some tiny frogs (about 0.8cm long). They were hopping around outside the pond. Unfortunately, I saw one or two which got stepped on. The aftermath looked disgusting.

We checked out at 8+am Vietnam time. Our flight was MI630. It had the usual stop-over at Seam Reap, Cambodia, before taking us to Singapore. This time, I checked and double checked before leaving the plane at Seam Reap. A very painful lesson learnt and Day 1. But then again, what else have I got to lose? My homework is gone already...

I read The Kite Runner on the plane and managed to finish half the book within the 4+ hours. I think the book is rather interesting. It should be as it's rare that I do get hooked on to books, especially this genre. The English department made a good selection.

I did violin practice after unpacking. I nearly wanted to drop the violin on the floor (experiment with gravity) after playing a few scales. My fingers and arms felt odd. Looks like I'll need about 2 days to get back into shape. Stress. Exam is in a months' time. Music practical is also somewhere around there.

After that, I went online. Jean went off to do project work at her friend's house. Gah. Reminds me of mine. I haven't started on any yet. Life is hard. But, don't give up, even when things are looking hopless.

I will post pictures later, but I don't think I'll post any of me at the beach. Obscene. But I will remove the pictures after maybe a week or 2. Don't want the pictures to circulate around the net too much.

(Section dedicated to Jie Ying: You haven't guessed yet... Don't worry - you still have 2 days. I'm patient.)

Vietnam - Day 4.71 < 5

We went to the beach again at 4pm (Vietnam time) today. This time, low-tide came earlier, so we went muuch further out of the restricted zone to swim. I must have gotton used to it as I didn't feel insecure though the floating buoys were not in front of me. Dad, Jean and I were more adventurous. Mom chose to stay at the edge of the restricted zone. She didn't want to let go of the rope and come over to the deeper section. Again, the usual throat and nose irritations kicked in. We had to spit in the water regularly to avoid the disgusting taste. Our noses also got irritated so we had to blow out the water through our nostrils frequently. It works better with mucus.

While we were swimming, we saw a yellow and black object bouncing up and down in the water. It looked vaguely familiar. When I took a closer look, I saw that my mother was doing jumping jacks in the water. Upon further questioning, she said she was trying to do some water aerobics. Keep fit, stay slim. So this is how it works. You bend your knees slightly, then you suddenly pop out of the water, pushing through the resistance and *splash*, you bounce back on the sea bed and repeat the above motion until your get tired or your legs give way.

After we finished floating around (trying to stay afloat), we went back to the shallow waters to collect clams. As usual, there were 2 women also collecting clams. We had to dig manually with our hands. And this is how the crab community got back at me for executing some of its members yesterday. While I was digging for clams, I suddenly pulled out what felt like a clam. However, as I pulled at it, it suddenly wriggled and something was tickling my finger. I suddenly realised it was a crab and squeezed it so hard until it nearly died. I then flinged it back on the sea bed. After that, I didn't quite dare to touch anything hard under water. Just as I regained my confidence, a fish bit me while I was digging for clams. So here's the summary. The jellyfish community forgave me. I'm thankful for that. But the crab village got angry and attacked me, jean and dad today. I think they were particularly angry at me and so they sent a fish to bite my finger. That rounds up the aquatic battlefield.

Now back to digging clams. My mother followed us to the shallow part. She didn't help us dig for clams. Instead, her head was seen bobbing up and down in the water. Upon further inspection, She was found to be doing push-ups. So much for water aerobics... I still wonder if it's effective.

We gave the 30+ clams we collected to one of the women collecting clams. She thanked us and came over to chat with us. She has 2 children, one 3 and the other 6 years old. She doesn't have enough money to send them to school yet. She was collecting clams to sell so that she could buy food to feed them. The amount of clams she collected each day usually sold for 20 000 VND (US$1). She would spend about 2-3 hours trying to earn that. She told my mother she was lucky. She said her husband had gone away. I don't know if she meant ran away or died. But whatever it was, her life is hard. I'm thinking, how does anyone support herself, her mother and 2 children with so little money? I admit I reflected on what I have - a stable home, food everyday, education, overseas trips... I'm thankful for what I have. I admit I had an urge to help her. So I am happy we gave her the clams, though it wasn't much.

We ate dinner at the restaurant we ate dinner at on Tuesday. The owners recognised us. They were happy we came back again. Then, they gave us the menus. They were in vietnamese, not english. *Busted!* They thought we were Vietnamese. So the restraunts really had 2 menus, one for locals and the other for tourists. The menu they gave us had no price list. I don't know which would have been riskier, this menu or the tuorist menu with high prices. Of course, we had to reveal our identity or we would never be able to order our food. Most of the time, conversations like ordering food etc. have what chinese say "bi shou hua jiao". Alot of actions. So hard to communicate. The food was very nice. It was also cheap. The owners were nice and decided not to charge us for a few dishes, so we let them keep the change. Before they gave the bill, I estimated a price about S$10 higher than the actual price.

We ate this interesting rice paper that was used to wrap around other food. Like the chinese "popiah". It felt like the manikin cover I used at school for the CPR thing (xin feng knows). It tastes like rice (obviously). It's like some plastic wrap. My sister liked it so much she saved 2 for eating while walking back to our resort.

On the way back, we had to navigate through the dark road. There was a lot of cow dung along the sidewalk. (Yes, they walk their cows around.) We had to avoid it and the minimal amount of street lights made our life harder. Halfway, we stopped to look at a social gathering in the town. We saw some people on stage, singing and playing instruments together. I'm not a singer, but I didn't quite like the music. Out of tune etc. But maybe it's intentional, so I may be wrong. Then, the woman whom we had a conversation with at the beach came to us. We had already established that she lived around that area. She was carring her 3 year old son. She asked us if we remembered her. My mother said yes. Frankly speaking, I didn't know who she was until 15 seconds later. We had a short conversation. We asked her what was going on here. So there we learnt that it was some social activity. The people are bored. Apart from their TV which doesn't have much shows, they have almost nothing else that's interesting. So these performances entertain them once in a while. Finally, we bid farewell and continued walking back to our resort.

And here I am now, in the business centre, typing this. I have to go in 7 mins before they lock this room. I'll sleep later tonight. (I hope my parents are not reading this, but I'll be staying up to watch discovery channel till I conk out.)

Tomorrow (Day 5): I'll go to the business centre again after breakfast. Then, we have to leave for the airport at around 9+ vietnam time to catch the plane at 10.25am. We should arrive in Singapore at 3.45pm. I will then unpack and use the computer to round up this whole trip. Photos will be put up within the next few days.

(section dedicated to Jie Ying: Keep guessing. Email me your questions. I will try to reply asap or you can ask if we meet online. I don't think you'll see this in time but I hope to meet you online tmr morning. around 8am for you. But it's alright if you can't. I'll be back tomorrow anyway.)

Vietnam - Day 4.7

This morning, I woke up on my own. Somehow, I think I dreamt that my father was knocking on the glass door of the balcony like he did the past 3 days. I dreamt he said something like "wake up". So I woke up, unsure if that really happened. But thinking back now, I don't think so. Anyway, that dream was effective. I think I could wake up because I slept earlier last night.

After breakfast, my father and I went cycling around Hoi An town. It was so fun. For once, I felt like I was part of the traffic. Just like driving a car on the road. I wouldn't say I've grown immune to the honking, but I've been trying to ignore it. I want to get a horn and blare it along the road as I cycle. I think I kept getting horned at. Maybe the drivers were just trying to be friendly.

The roads are dusty. The exhaust fumes are not filtered before escaping into the air. Along the road, there are stalls/houses. The road is mostly smooth, but bumpier than Singapore roads. The funny thing is, cyclists don't have bells. So only the motorcyclists and car drivers can join in the honking.

Along the way, we went on a few off-road tracks. One of them led us to a small fishing farm. It was located near the river. There is also agricultural activity along the river. The river helps to irrigate their crops. We met a friendly couple who was fishing. The had a huge net suspended in the river. When they collected the fish, they would "cycle" at a small "control room" to tighten the ropes, bringing the net up. The net was supported by a few wooden poles dug in the water. After collecting the fish on a small boat, the ropes were then released and the net shot back down into the water. It suddenly ceased to exist. The couple asked us where we were from and had a friendly chat with us.

After cycling for 2 hours, we went back to the resort. My sister wanted to go to the gym just now but was under-aged. So instead she rotted in the billiard room and watched tv. My mom just read a book. And she told me she was on her own slimming programme...

At around 10.30am vietnam time, we rented a taxi for 4 hours which would take us to Danang city. I was the first to exclaim, "yay! civillisation!" when we arrived. The city there was slightly more advanced, but seems more like the Bras Basah complex. Except they tried to air condition it. But for seem reason, their air-con failed to live up to its duties. We shopped a bit but there was really nothing much that was interesting. It's supposed to be their "vivo city" there. Jean and I went bowling. It cost S$1.50 per game. Much cheaper than SAFRA. We played 3 games each because mom and dad took so long to come back up to rescue us. The bowling balls were very rough, with many dents. The alley looked like it was ageing too. I beat my sister in 2 games. I think I warmed up to the alley after a while. She detiorated drastically.

We ate lunch at a restaurant the taxi driver recommended us. The food was nice but the hygeine was not up to our expectations. There were ants crawling over our untensils and plates. There were plenty of flies too. But my mom particularly liked the beef stew. She said it was nice at least 10 times. I was beginning to hate the stew.

After lunch, I'm back at the resort. I was so tired I slept through the whole journey back. Blogging now and chatting with Jie Ying. I like this place. It's nice. But I'll have to leave tomorrow.

Later: Going to the beach again to swim and collect clams. Then dinner I think.

Vietnam - Day 3.51 < 4

I went to the beach with my family at around 3.30pm Vietnam time. The sun was not as unmerciful as yesterday, and I found out that today's temperature was only 33 degrees celcius. Tomorrow and friday will be 34 degrees c. I'll be molten if I dont dissolve in my perspiration. It was low tide when we went down to the beach. I was able to stand on the sea bed even at the end of the restricted zone. But, of course, when there was a wave, I would gulp sea water. It was really very salty. The feeling is horrible. Terrible. Very. After a while, my throat feels like it's burning. The salt doesn't make you thirsty. It just makes you hate salt forever. After that, my nose starts to feel like it caught fire. Can't breathe properly and I constantly had to spit out sliva and blow hard through my nose to flush sea water out. It would have helped if I had a runny nose. I kept worrying that I'll either step on a sea urchin, or get stung by a jellyfish. Especially the one I almost murdered yesterday. The water was quite clear. I could sea my feet at the bottom. But it wasn't claer enough to see the sea bed clearly. I felt like a fish. Eating plankton. The sand was really very very fine. It was like powder. My mother started having her own "body enhancing" session. She rubbed the fine sand on her skin to make it smoother. She said it looked like what they sell in body shops. Ah, that's her.

My dad, Jean and I went around the shallower waters, trying to collect clams and crabs. We saw a woman who was also collecting clams. She was further out in front. She must have stole all the clams. No wonder we found so few. She used a simple machine. We had to do it the hard way by digging with our hands into the sand and feeling for clams.

My dad is a clam detector. Everywhere he starts digging, there's bound to be a few clams. Wherever my sister or I hunted, we almost never found clams. But our luck changed when we realised the trend and started digging wherever our dad started digging. I also found many shells with crabs in it. They were very small. When they crawled out, I shouted "Go back in!" and they listened to me. Ha. Yay! We collected the clams and crabs in a ceramic urn we found lying on the beach. I suddenly made the discovery that it could float on water. So we saved energy by not having to run back and forth. We did the running for almost half and hour. On one occasion, I was searching for clams when I mistook my dad's toe for a clam. I only realised when I tried to pull "it" out of the water. I later admitted that I was the one who pulled his toe. I laughed so hard I nearly toppled in the water. I hope he didn't think it was some jellyfish. I bet I would have jumped out of the water.

At about 5.30pm vietnam, we decided to finish off the beach activity. We carried the clams back to shore. I asked my dad what we were going to do with all of that. I thought he was going to say something like, we'll cook it! or let's give it to a restaurant! But Jean and I nearly died of shock when he said, "we'll hold a ceremony to bury them". Our reaction: what?! It wasn't a wrong statement, but the usually highly mature dad of ours just said something we thought was... extroadinary. And we started laughing again. (No, jie ying, I don't have a laughing disorder.) In the end, we gave the poor crustaceans to the woman who was collecting them. She left out one clam. My dad dug a hole with his feet, dropped the calm there and patched up the hole. And no, no ceremony. I would have died of laughter and created the wrong atmosphere for the poor clam.

After showering, we went for dinner. We walked out again and ate at a restaurant just beside the one we ate at last night. This resaurant had less variety, less value for money and the waitress was obviously trying to cheat us. I think they have 2 menus. One for tuorists, The other for locals. It cos S$5 for a medium sized tiger prawn. !!! If I had seen through the exagerated size earlier, I would have gone without it. Overall, the food tasted alright, but just wasn't worth it. The pineapple juice I drank was nice.

Now, I'll type about the pond outside my room (ground level). The pond has lilies. There are 2 types. Red and blue ones. The blue lilies bloom in the day and close up in the night. The red lilies close up in the day and bloom at night. So interesting. The first and only thing that came to my mind was: red and blue litmus paper. Such resemblance.

Now I shall update the condition of my homework. It is barely done. I can't find a single shop that sells foolscap paper. I can't start on anything. How annoying. I brought my homework here for nothing. Gahness. All I can do is read The Kite Runner. Sigh. How unfortunate. I will always remember not to leave anything behind on the plane while at stopovers. A painful lesson learnt.

Now, it is about 9.10pm. I have 50 more minutes before this room gets locked. As for pictures, I'll post them when I get back to Singapore. Internet connection speed is 100.0Mbps. I think that's slow.

Tomorrow:
1. Going cycling in the morning. Our hotel room comes with complimentary bicycle renting coupons. My mom can't cycle. She'll probably go to the gym or I don't know. But I know she'll exercise. Maybe there'll be a two-man bike.
2. Going to Danang city at around 10.30am vietnam time so mom, dad, jean and I can eat lunch there. I think it's much more advanced than Hoi An. It's a 30min drive from this resort and is near the airport.
3. I don't know what we'll be doing after that. So I'll blog about day 4.5 when I'm back from Danang city.

(section dedicated to jie ying: meet you online tmr afternoon or at night? if ur free. If not, it's alright. No more sectionals for now so you can cheer up. I'm honestly worried about August...)

Vietnam - Day 3.5

This morning, the phone rang as usual. I'm really starting to regret sleeping near the telephone. My mom must have waited at the other line for at least a minute before I realised that the loud noise was from the telephone. So I gropped for the reciever and held it to my ear. I could hear my mother's cheery voice on the other line. No matter how hard I tried, I could only manage to make a few noises which sounded like I was still following her conversation. After that, we got changed and went for breakfast. We got onto a private car at 8. We "rented" the driver for 4 hours.

We went to visit the marble mountains. It consists of 5 "mountains", each containing marble. They are named after the five Chinese elements: water, fire, wood, earth and metal. The "mountains" were not more than a hundred metres high. We were approached by a tour guide who wanted to show us around. My dad didn't reject his offer. Oh, and for the whole trip, i thought he was paid as part of our entry tickets. Anyway, he took us around the "water mountain". We climbed all the way to the top and looked down at a cemetry. We also visited caves. The air quality was so bad inside because they burnt insence there. I think the PSI was 100+. Along the way, the guide helped take pictures of all of us. I think he's a trained photographer. He knows how to adjust settings really well so that the picture can be of optimum quality. He can speak limited english, but I think it was a great job since i don't even know one sentence in Vietnamese. Along the way, he talked about the Buddhist teachings and tried to convince us that Christianity and Buddhism were the same. However, we begged to differ. We didn't start a huge debate, but just listened to his points and rebutted a little. I know my parents would have had a lot to say. 2 reasons - 1. My dad is a church elder 2. My mother is the principal of our church's sunday school. As for Jean and I, we just listened. Maybe christians should also be that enthusiastic in sharing their faith.

The base of the mountains are lined with shops selling marble products. But guess what. The guide told us that the marble they used was imported from overseas. This is because the mountains' marble is being conserved. Imagaine if they used this marble. The marble mountains would be really flat by decades ago.

If there was something practical I learnt today, it's this - If you're buying a vase for a plant, marble is better than glass. Ceramic is better than marble. This is mainly because of it's porous features.

After the marble mountains visit, we went back to the car. We were served cold towels and cold bottled water. It made us really happy. (Remember the heat). Next, we headed over to the Cham museum. Cham is some very ancient group of people. The museum contained mostly stone carvings with faces of gods and godesses. A few of them seemed to be beheaded. Apart from the (boring) artefacts, the museum building itself could be an item for showcase. It was non air conditioned and had rather large windows at the sides. The windows had pull-down metal covers to lock up the place. However, they looked rusty and I definitely do not think it's a safe place to live in. The floor was tiled but had many cracks and stains. The walls were slightly cracked and and had fungi growth at the top. The bottom half seemed abused by visitors. It may have been used for vivistors to vent their frustration (kids feeling bored?) by placing their shoe print on the wall. I was yawning while walking as my parents admired the sculptures. Then we entered this art gallery. Suddenly, I saw a plasma TV on the wall. I wanted to jump and clap. This is probably the most advanced item I had seen since I walked out of the resort. Maybe an educational tool! Then suddenly, I saw a video clip of my family walking around the room. You can guess what it was used for.

When we went back to the car, we were served cold towels and cold bottles of water again. By then, my bag was beginning to be somewhat like a water tank. And me, a walking water tank. Anyway, I like this custom. It's really useful with the heat here.

Let me elaborate on driving here. I think drivers place one hand on the horn, and the other on another part of the steering wheel. Then whenever thay see someone, honk! I find their driving style rather interesting, though. I'm also very surprised that I haven't seen any accidents on the road so far.

When we went back, we ate lunch at a different restaurant in this resort. I think here has the only food i trust. Then, we went to play table tennis and billiard. I beat Jean in billiard. As for table tennis, we didn't keep score. Now, I'm typing this. I was also chatting with Jie Ying online.

Later: Going to the beach. I hope i dont get stung by jellyfish. I'm paranoid of them already after seeing so many in a small area yesterday. Also going to eat dinner. My mom is thinking of playing tennis at night. But we already played that last friday.. sigh.

(section dedicated to jie ying: I hope your day gets better later. And don't be so stressed, annoyed, frustrated, blah blah blah.. cheer up! I'll try to meet you online at night)

Vietnam - Day 2.76 > 3

We ate dinner at a seafood restaurant near the sea. We had to walk out from our hotel, along a "highway" with a rough width of 1 lane and 2 road shoulders, to the public beach. The sidewalk along the highway was littered with occasional dung. So it was important to look out in front, and below.

The beach was filled with many people. There was an open air shower area nearby. As we sat down to order our food, we were approached by some people to buy their goods. We objected. However, there was a particular boy who kept coming up to us. Each time he approached us, he would present his biscuits and ask about 3 questions at least 3 times. He asked in Vietnamese so we obviously didn't know what it meant and just kept waving and shaking our heads. Later on during our meal, he brought along four friends. They went around from table to table, selling the same biscuits. Again, not a very good marketing strategy. However, I think the table in front of us had nicer people. They rejected once or twice, but bought regularly from them each time they came. I'm still contemplating on whether it's better or not to give in to their persistence. If I do, more may come and I will spend a bomb. If not, will these kids have enough money for their next meal, and will their parents allow them to go home tonight?

After the seafood dinner, we went back to our hotel. And as usual, I went to my second room, the business centre, of course! I chatted online with Jie Ying for a while. She rushed off to do violin practice. Jie Ying, if you're reading this, just be confident when you're leading. Doesn't matter if you can play or not. I think you're better, so feel free to correct mistakes. If not, I'll be x+10 times more worried than you about the concert (given that your worry is x).

Itenary for tomorrow:
8am-12pm: Visit Marble Mountains
12pm < eat lunch on the way back, then rest at resort. I'll probably be using this computer and playing sports after that.
4pm: Go to the beach again. Sunset view. Hopefully, it's not that hot. Ah, but fat chance. I was nearly grilled today even at 4pm.

note: Over here, the sun rises at 6am, sets at 6pm. SIngapore was supposed to be following this timing but decided to go one hour ahead to catch market action overseas. Still trying to get used to it.

(section set aside for Jie Ying: I'll try to meet you online at night then. I hope you remembered the Blue Danube stuff for Vln I. Nvm, I trust you. The rest of this section will be in your email.)

Vietnam - Day 2.75

I just came back from Hoi An city. We took a mini bus there and back (1-4.30pm vietnam time). When we reached, we walked around the place freely. No, correct that. At around 3.30pm, I think there was a brief evening peak hour. It was slightly crowded. And you can imagine the noise, the honking, when I further elaborate on it later. The roads are mostly rough, uneven and dusty. There are stalls along the roads selling things. I think my dad's haggling skills are really good. He manages to get whatever price he wants. My mother is too kind. She keeps listening to the shop keepers and doesn't know how to reject them. As for me, I just pass all the haggling work to my dad. The things they sell are almost the same. Usually, the same things can be found in shops side by side. I wouldn't say this is a good marketing strategy...

On Vietnam roads, it seems as though honking is part of social ettiquette and friendliness. The motorists (95% motorcyclists and cyclists) honk at almost every other vehicle and pedestrian they meet. Maybe they're just trying to say "hi". And there is a serious lack of traffic lights on the road. When the motorists want to drive pass a juntion, they just press their horn all the way through. If pedestrians carried horns too, I think my ears would be dead by now.

The sunlight here is really direct. If today isn't the hottest, I really don't know how to survive the next few days. The good thing about daytime is that lights up the place. But, it's really hot. I am burnt like toast, as what jie ying thinks. At night, it's cooler. That's about all. But it is very very dark. If not for a few random lights last night, I would have walked straight out to sea. The business centre has become my second room. If I'm inside the resort, I'm either in my room or in here.

Now: I am going to play table tennis. Then we'll eat dinner. But I don't know where. Somehow, this resort is the most advanced part of vietnam I've ever seen. Talk about the Junta..

Later: I will go back to round up Day 2 in the business centre and chat with jie ying online. I'm also waiting for yu xin's email.

(section dedicated to Jie Ying: i hope i can see you online later. The rest of what I want to type is in ur email. I thought of using both communication methods. Ah, and ur blog, I am training my patience.)

Vietnam - Day 2.5

This morning, the sun rose at 6am. My parents called my room at around 6.30am and told my sister and I to get ready for breakfast in 15mins. I told my sister, and dropped back into a deep sleep. I didn't wake up until my dad came knocking at the door.

After that, we went for breakfast at the restaurant we went to for dinner last night. We had free breakfast coupons. There was a great variety of food there. I am not a bread enthusiast, but I decided to toast one for fun this morning. I dropped the bread onto the rotating wheel, and waited for it to drop at the bottom. Just as it was about to fall, I saw an abandoned peice of bread stuck at the back of the toster. It was obstructing my path. The rest of the story is expected. My bread got caught there and I gave up eating bread that morning. But don't worry, I ate other stuff.

After breakfast, We went to change into our swimming costumes to go to the beach. The sun was really very hot. Jean, dad and I went kayaking. We rented a two-man kayak and took turns. The first turn I went on, I went with my sister. As we circled around, we saw a pink jellyfish. We tried to take a picture of it but we didn't have a camera and my mother was very certain it would land in the water. After kayaking abit more, I got tired and started splashing water on myself As my hand reached into the water, I saw this grey jellyfish. I got a shock and immediately pulled my hand out of the water. After that, I won a game of "scissors, paper, stone" with my sister and kayaked with my dad. I took him to the same spot but the jellyfish seemed to have swum away. After searching some more, we found another jellyfish. This time, my dad took his paddle and scooped up the jellyfish. Wait, that's not it. Then, he flicked it towards me. We almost capsized. After 2 rounds, I rode with my sister again. We searched for more jellyfish. We found 2 more and tried to guide it to the sand to take a picture of it. But we ended up turning in circles and eventually lost sight of them each time. Then, hooray! We Saw a green one! My sister, dad and I spent 10 minutes trying to overcome waves and flick the jellyfish onto the sand. Eventually, we succeeded. But the jellyfish looked unconscious. My sister and I came up with the ingenius idea of using our hands to carry water over to the sand and flick it on the jellyfish. We exercised alot. After taking some photos of our catch, we had a hard time thinking of how to get the jellyfish back into the water. None of us wanted to carry it. Oh! Let me add, I touched the jellyfish's head. It felt slimy and gooey. Getting back to the story, so we had to build a canal leading to the sea. My dad eventually got impatient and just kicked it all the way.

My sister and I followed it out until it was too deep for us. Oh, I forgot to mention, we didn't murder the jellyfish! We kept it well and alive and it eventually regained consciuosness and started swimming. After that, we swam back to shore. Suddenly, I saw a brown jellyfish beside my sister. When I told her, she nearly jumped on me.

After that, I lay down on a hammok secured by 2 coconut trees. After swinging for a while, my sister and I went to the swimming pool to swim. It was so irregularly shaped and large that we could only swim properly by going along the perimeter. At 10.45am, we went back to our rooms to shower. I think I am slightly sunburnt already. The temperature is at least 34 degrees c i think. When I finished showering, I saw my dad and sister in my room watching Power Puff Girls on cartoon network. I nearly burst out laughing. A 13.5 year old and a 42.5 year old. Sigh.. I think they're really bored. When I went out of my room, my glasses fogged up unitl I reached this business centre. Oh, and I lost my way. I still cant walk to destinations properly. I left my room first but entered the business room later than my sister. Sigh. I need a map!

Last night: After dinner, my sister and I went to the business centre. After that, yes, we couldn't find our way back. It was so dark, we couldn't see the paths and had to depend on the minimal amount of light a handphone screen can give. We reached the room 10mins longer than normal.

Now: It's 1.35pm in vietnam. We are going to Hoi An City. We're taking the van from the resort. And the temperature is rising steadily. For now, no pictures yet. I will put them maybe tomorrow or when I get back to singapore.

Later: I will try to post at night about Hoi An City.

(Jie Ying, have fun at sectionals! And remember to remind them Thanks! I've been dedicating the last segment of every post so far to you..)

Vietnam - Day 1

Today, I went to Changi airport at 12.15pm. We took a taxi. There's a long story behind it but I'll skip that. Can ask me if you want to know. After that, we reached the airport and had some food before boarding the plane. I ate an Apple Turnover.

Our plane was MI633 (silkair). It stopped at Seam Reap, Cambodia, before going to Danang, Vietnam. I get depressed while thinking about the ride. I was so hard working as to do A Math homework on the plane. After doing about half the heymath benchmark test 2, I got so sleepy that I chucked the paper and my whole supply of foolscap paper in the front pocket and fell asleep till we landed in Seam Reap. While stopping over, the air stewards made an announcement, something about taking everything with you, then coming back with everything in half an hour while they cleaned up the plane. The sleepy-headed me just walked straight out of the plane without taking the things from the front pocket. Of course, I didn't realise until I got back into the plane and heard someone mention about the plane being cleaned up. I got a shock and checked my bag in vain for the precious papers. And you know the rest of the story.

On the bright side, I still have The Kite Runner to read. I'm still wondering how I will ever finish it. I brought the english comprehension paper and E Math heymath test 2. Sadly, I am out of paper supply. This is so depressing. How am I going to accomplish my work? Gah.

Danang airport is super tiny. It can be separated into 3 classrooms (columns). The first is for passengers coming into the airport to board a plane. The second is a small baggage wheel to pick up the luggages. The third is another tiny room for passengers waiting to get out of the airport, into Vietnam.

When we got out, a guy from the hotel drove us back. It was this drive that gave me the first good impression of this hotel. He served cold towels and a drink. When we reached the hotel, we were served a welcome drink and a cold towel. After I met Jie Ying online, I went for dinner in the hotel. It was what I call "fine dining". They served us cold towels again and 2 nice tiny loafs of bread. It was delicious. I think I have cleaned myself with a cold towel 3 times already within the past 2 hours.

I'm staying at Palm Garden Resort. It's 30km from Danang airport. But it's actually in Hoi An, not Danang. There is free internet service, from 6.30am to 10pm (vietnam time, 1 hour back from Singapore), which is what I'm using now and a whole load of free sports facilities like cycling, tennis, table tannis, snooker etc. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow. I think we'll be out at the beach and mostly exercising. So tiring...

I am dreading Wednesday. According to weather forecasters, temperaturs could go to 35 degrees celcius. I wonder how I'll look like at the end of this trip. But so far, I'm enjoying.

I have some photos but I'll probably only add some tomorrow. My dad hasn't loaded it out from his camera yet. I am going to go back to my room now. I'm sharing a room with my sister. My parents are staying in another. This is the first time they're doing this. This is the first night. Kind of weird. Independence.. That's all for today. My shoulder is aching from the typing.

(Jie Ying, on wednesday, help me revise with violin 1s what we did for blue danube today, waltz one. It's bars 48-52, get intonation right, shift confidently. Clear rests throughout whole song, and middle of second page, remember the G# and C sharp. Oh ya, and from bars 52 to key change, there is a change of fingering. Use third position all the way after coming back from 5th. That's all. Thanks for your help. Sorry I'm ditching you for so long...)